UPDATE:Toyota,Honda,Nissan July Output Rise; Outlook Unclear
Wednesday August 27th, 2008 / 12h30
(Combines domestic production of three car makers; adds auto production details.) TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Japan's three largest car makers saw domestic auto production rise in July due to a one-off factor, but the outlook for the industry is still uncertain due to sluggish local demand and the impact of a global economic slowdown on U.S. and European sales. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO), Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO) and Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) Wednesday released data showing a jump in July output as year-earlier figures were artificially low due to a major quake that forced the companies to temporarily stop production. If the impact of the quake is excluded, Nissan would still have posted a 31% growth and Honda's output would have risen 0.2%, benefiting from solid domestic sales and exports, but Toyota's production would have fallen 0.1%. "As our domestic sales remain weak, and production for the U.S. and Europe, particularly for western Europe, are falling, we expect our (domestic) production to fall below last year's level," a spokeswoman at Toyota said. Toyota expects its domestic output to decline 3% to 4.1 million vehicles this year, even as its production for the first seven months rose 4% on year to 2.5 million vehicles. Toyota, Japan's biggest car maker by sales volume, said its domestic production in July rose 19.1% on year to 370,572 vehicles, marking the first rise in two months. Its domestic sales rose 4.8% to 141,535 vehicles, while its exports grew 14.5% to 229,941 vehicles. Its overseas production was up 0.1% at 350,351 vehicles. In China, output in July soared 43% to 52,880. Honda said its domestic production in July climbed 14.5% on year to 112,156 vehicles, the first rise in 11 months. Japan's second biggest car maker said its domestic sales rose 16.4% to 53,988 vehicles in July on solid sales of its recently launched Fit and Freed compact models. Its exports were down 6.9% at 56,415 vehicles, while its overseas output rose 19.3% to 229,996 vehicles. Its production in China jumped 42% to 54,900. Nissan said its production in Japan soared 50.2% on year to 129,103 vehicles partly as exports increased 19.6% to 31,271 vehicles. Its overseas production grew 14.4% to 186,872 vehicles. It boosted output in China by 51% to 37,999 vehicles. Smaller Japanese car makers also revved up their production in Japan in July. Suzuki Motor Co. (7269.TO) said it boosted domestic production in July by 48.1% on year to 117,508 vehicles after its output volume was reduced by the quake a year earlier. Mazda Motor Corp. (7261.TO), the Japanese affiliate of Ford Motor Co., and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (7211.TO) said solid sales had a bigger impact on growth in their production. Mazda's July domestic production jumped 29.6% from a year earlier to 106,752 vehicles, mainly on increased production of small and midsize vehicles, such as the recently remodeled Mazda2 compact for both the domestic and overseas markets. Mitsubishi said its domestic production was up 11.1% at 74,909 vehicles in July as it produced more vehicles for Russia and Ukraine. -By Yoshio Takahashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929; yoshio.takahashi@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=BoRMfymB3IV0Cliy7PnazQ%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
